Clack Middle School athletic coordinator Justin Foss closes a locker inside the boys locker room Tuesday. Replacing the mat in the center is one of the improvements the school hopes could be made with the upcoming bond vote.(Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News, )Buy Photo

Editor's note: This is the second of a five-part series examining the Abilene Independent School District's proposed $138.7 million bond. This story examines the athletics needs addressed in the proposition. Part 3 will explore the proposed Career and Technology Education school. Part 4 will look at fine arts and facilities. Part 5 examines the financial aspect of the bond and its impact on other proposals being asked of Abilene voters. Part 1 previously examined the proposed replacement of three elementary schools.

Phil Blue sees potential in the Abilene ISD athletics programs.

Whether it's on the football field under the lights of Shotwell Stadium or the softball diamond on the campuses of Abilene and Cooper high schools, there's opportunity for teenagers to improve themselves and learn the value of hard work and discipline.

The last thing Blue, Abilene ISD's director of athletics, wants to see, then, is for that potential to be stifled by outdated facilities — if they even exist at all.

To answer some of what school officials call the most basic needs of the district's athletics programs, Abilene ISD is turning to voters on Nov. 6 for help through a $138.7 million bond proposition.

"The things we've asked for are things we feel the programs desperately need to meet the potential of our students," Blue said.

If approved, the bond would:

Add lights to high school baseball and softball fields and tennis courts;

Install turf infield on the four diamonds for better drainage;

Build turf practice fields at the high schools;

Create space for new weight and mat rooms at middle schools;

Install four-lane tracks at three middle school campuses;

Build a new track and field complex at Shotwell Stadium.

Those projects carry a price tag of $14.7 million, making up roughly 10.6 percent of the bond package.

It's even a smaller percentage if the district's 2013 bond, a successful $87.7 million package, is included. No athletics programs were included in that bond.

"That's less than 7 percent of the total spending dedicated to athletics," Blue said. "I don't think that's extravagant."

Blue said it is important to update facilities because with 254 teams, athletics touch more than one-third of the middle and high school student body.

Specifically, high schools have 94 athletic teams with 1,301 students, or roughly 32 percent of the student body. Middle schools have 160 teams with 1,384 students, or about 38 percent.

Constantly playing catch-up

The list of items included in the bond is designed solely to put Abilene schools at a competitive level with many of their rivals, Blue said.

Blue examined facilities at 13 school districts that AHS and Cooper played in 2017-18 and found his teams were almost never on an even playing field concerning preparation or ability to host contests.

Abilene ISD is the only of the 14 districts without a turf field at its high schools, for instance. Not only that, but some had multiple fields. Frenship ISD, Blue said, has five.

Regarding lights for baseball and softball, Abilene ISD is among four — joining Amarillo, Midland and Wylie ISDs — without any.

Lubbock, Amarillo and Abilene are the only ones that don't have lighted tennis courts, Blue said.

For middle school track, only Amarillo ISD fails to provide an actual paved surface for its students, though the district does provide a flat, turf surface for students to run on. Abilene, meanwhile, paints lanes on grass at Clack, Craig, Madison and Mann middle schools that can become treacherous for ankles if students accidentally find holes.

"Across the board, we're a consistent 'no' when it comes to our facilities," Blue said. "We're not trying to upgrade anything because we don't have any of these things. But if we want to give our kids an opportunity to fulfill their potential, we need to give them the facilities they need to be competitive."

Base needs for softball and baseball

Every spring, scheduling baseball and softball games in Abilene is rejected due to lack of adequate facilities, Blue said.

There are a number of reasons, but it almost always comes down to a lack of lighting, he said.

First, the most obvious: Due to UIL rules, games without lights must be completed before dark. With the seasons for these two sports beginning in late-February and early March, daylight is at a premium.

"Abilene and Cooper are the only two schools our size in the region," AHS softball coach Jim Reese said. "We have to travel to South Texas, Austin, Liberty Hill, Midland, Odessa to play schools our level. And we need to play other 5A and 6A schools to get better. To do this, we need our facilities to be equal."

So, students get plucked out of school early to play home matches at 2 p.m. A visiting team would lose an entire day of class just for travel to and from Abilene.

But there are other aspects that play into whether an opponent is willing to take on Abilene teams, Blue said. Like opportunity for junior varsity teams to play.

Bigger schools like to take their varsity and junior varsity teams on trips. Since the varsity is more important, it plays first. On weekdays, school isn't even dismissed yet.

Once those teams are finished — if there's daylight left — the junior varsity squads square off. Blue said at Abilene home games, it's not uncommon for the JV teams to make the trip just to turn around without stepping onto the diamond.

And if a game is left unfinished at the varsity level, it must be completed, by UIL rules, the next day. That means those students from three-, four-, or five-hours away would need to travel to and from Abilene two days in a row.

For athletic directors, coaches and players, just one of these problems can be deeply frustrating, Blue said.

"When we call out-of-district teams and they know we don't have lights, they turn us down," Blue said. "It's problematic for scheduling."

This causes two things to happen, Blue said. Either smaller schools are scheduled or Abilene teams go on the road more often.

More travel means students miss more class. Blue said adding lights doesn't just provide the athlete with better opportunity, it helps with academics, too.

The bond also addresses field problems by replacing the current infields with turf, a switch that would allow games to take place sooner after a rain.

AHS and Cooper could better attract competition if fields were upgraded, better ensuring games could go on and long trips wouldn't be wasted, Reese said.

He said the district had trouble scheduling a tournament last year that ended up not even being played due to rain. With a new infield, the turf would drain quickly, allowing competition to proceed.

A long wait for the weights

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A padlock secures weights to a rack in a hallway outside the Clack Middle School gym. Building a better weight room is also part of the school's plan if the bond in passed in November.(Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News, )

Boys and girls in the athletic programs at Clack Middle School have a constant struggle with space. Everything athletically doubles as something else.

The boys locker room, filled between being used for regular gym class and for boys sports teams in season, also doubles as a mat room. And that mat is showing its age as it's constantly walked upon by students and coaches.

The girls weight room doubles as a band practice space and has music stands mixed throughout the squat machines, dumbbells and bench presses.

As for the boys, they spend their weight-lifting time in a portable classroom. But with more than 100 students looking to use the space, athletic coordinator Justin Foss said he has to break them up into groups in order to maximize safety and progress.

He's only able to work with 30 kids at a time in the portable classroom.

"I was in Hamlin before this," Foss said. "The junior high students used the high school weight room there. We don't have the ability to use Cooper's room, though. We use (our weight room) to the best of our ability, but it only goes so far."

Foss said he looked into adding a second portable classroom but was told no because portable buildings have a weight limit. The one now in use is reinforced.

Instead, the school stores free-weights, including bench press and squat machines, in a hallway outside the gym, accessible to everyone. Special instruments used to chain the weights in place so they couldn't be taken were welded together.

By offering middle school students access to weight rooms, Foss and Blue both said, the goal is to prepare them for the type of workouts they'll experience in high school if they continue in athletics.

"We should be able to give them more than this," Foss said. "People can't play football their whole lives, but they can lift weights. And it hurts us and them with us having so small an area for them to use."

Avoid the potholes

This bond also addresses one of the most popular sports middle school students participate in: track and field.

Currently, officials paint lines on a grass field and ask the students to run, jump, toss and compete.

Foss said the lack of a paved track is a major safety concern.

"You walk that field and you can step in a hole every 10 feet," he said. "It's not an ideal situation for 13- and 14-year-old students to have to deal with.

"I've never been anywhere that doesn't have a track. I got here and I asked about track and they said, 'No, we just paint the lines on the field.' We don't have relay markings, so we can't run those here. We have to bus our kids to Cooper for that practice. What we'd like is an eight-lane track, but we're asking for a four-lane track, which would be perfect."

The bond would allow installation of these tracks at three of the four middle schools. Left out would be Craig due to a lack of space at the campus.

Those students won't be neglected, though, as the bond also calls for a new track complex at Shotwell Stadium, capable of hosting both high school and middle school track meets and the nearby Craig Colts full-time.

The new facility would turn Shotwell into a multi-field complex with two turf fields and a track and allow the district to stop renting college facilities. The new addition would come with its own scoreboard, which would allow soccer to move from the current football field, Blue said.

It would also come with expanded dressing rooms, which would allow track teams access to showers and facilities at Shotwell.

Getting serious about sports

Some may see athletics as a secondary job at the school district, and Blue hears those assessments loud and clear. He understands football is not math class and a 4x100-meter relay isn't the same as learning a trade.

But districts aren't being judged in the public only by their standardized testing scores. And students don't go to class only to get book-smart.

"The district and the community long ago made a commitment to a holistic education," Blue said. "That includes fine arts and athletics. And this is about competitive programs ... where we're being judged by others on how we do. If you have two different school districts being judged on the ability of the students to learn math, you'd want their studies to be the same, the teachers to teach the same, not have one school with the students sitting on the floor with no air conditioning while the other has nice desks.

"Can we do it with what we have? Yes. But can we meet our potential? That's debatable, especially when the field's not level."

Blue just wants to make sure those 2,685 student-athletes have the same opportunities as students in other school districts.

Bond information meetings

What: The Abilene ISD has set two informational meetings on its Nov. 6 bond election.

When/where: 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Abilene High West Cafeteria, and 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Cooper High Auditorium

Details: Superintendent David Young will present details and take questions

Website: AbileneISDBOND.org

Projects proposed in the $138.7 million bond on the November 2018 ballot

Replacing Austin Elementary ($22.3 million), Taylor Elementary ($23.0 million) and Dyess Elementary ($23.8 million) with a capacity of 750 students at each campus;

Building a new CTE commuter high school ($41.6 million) serving the district's electives like auto tech, culinary arts, cosmetology, construction tech and television production, plus the ATEMS program;

Upgrading athletic facilities at both Abilene and Cooper high schools, including lighting for baseball, softball and tennis ($1.6 million), installing turf, upgrading seating, lighting, press box, sound system, scoreboard and band tower for the practice fields ($4.1 million) and install infield turf on the baseball and softball fields ($1.4 million);

Providing fine arts renovations at Abilene High and Cooper ($5.5 million), including stage renovations for new lighting and other technical upgrades, while converting the auto tech and construction labs at Abilene High and the CTE lab at Cooper High into new band halls and practice rooms, renovating AHS's choir space, CHS's orchestra and choir hall and installing new practice rooms and choral risers at both campuses;

Building new band halls, renovating the art and choir rooms and converting the existing band hall into an orchestra room at Madison and Mann middle schools ($2.8 million);